The ‘saddest ever’ home to appear on Grand Designs has been snapped up by a former driving instructor turned property investor, the Daily Mail can reveal.
But in the latest sad twist for the stunning property – which has never been lived in – the new owner appears unlikely to ever move into the house as he is understood to be battling terminal cancer.
Viewers of the Channel 4 housebuilding show were left in floods of tears as previous owner Edward Short’s quest to build a family home in a stunning clifftop location cost him his 20-year marriage and left him drowning in £10million of debt.
The property has been on the market for several years as Mr Short, 52, battled against bankruptcy and was last year re-listed for £5.25million on behalf of debt collectors.
In a recent interview he revealed the house has been sold for £4.35million but he won’t see a penny of that, adding: ‘Everything I’ve had, I’ve lost.’
Now we can exclusively reveal the new owner is Londoner Sanjay Patel who bought the remarkable Devon home through his company Hare Gate Property Ltd.
The Daily Mail tracked down Mr Patel, 60, to a modest cul-de-sac in Edgware, north London where he rents a semi-detached home with his Polish partner Agni De Ankerburg Wagner, 54.
Ms Wagner, an artist, told the Daily Mail she wasn’t aware of the purchase.
Edward Short and his wife Hazel put their life savings into building their fantasy eco-friendly home, known as Chesil Cliff House
The house (pictured) went up for sale for £10million, but has now been sold for £4.35million
The property’s unique location offers stunning seaside views of the idyllic Bristol Channel
The property ended up costing Mr Short (pictured) his marriage and left him in drowning in a £7million pool of debt
Londoner Sanjay Patel, 60, pictured with his Polish partner Agni De Ankerburg Wagner, 54
She said: ‘A house in Devon? I don’t know about that. My husband has cancer and he’s upstairs. He’s not very well so it is not possible to speak to him. I don’t understand what has happened.’
Neighbours revealed Mr Patel has bought a number of properties bankrolled by his wealthy sister in India.
One said that Mr Patel has made most of his money through property dealing and does not work that much as a driving instructor.
Another added: ‘He told me he has very wealthy relatives including a sister who is a multi-millionaire in India and is bankrolled by her in his property business.
‘It’s really sad because he has terminal cancer and only has months to live.’
According to Companies House, Mr Patel owns 21 businesses – most involved in high end property investment – but also ran NSK Driving School where he listed himself as a driving instructor until he folded the company earlier this year.
Documents filed with Companies House show one of his companies – Hare Gate Property Ltd – took out a loan against the house in October 2024 declaring it is the sole legal proprietor.
Mr Patel (pictured) bought the remarkable Devon home through his company Hare Gate Property Ltd
Separate documents for the company reveal it owns an unnamed investment property as of May 2024 worth £5,120,933 and has borrowed £4,975,000.
Other companies controlled by Mr Patel own 11 homes worth tens of millions of pounds in some of London’s most upmarket neighbourhoods including Chelsea, St John’s Wood and Belgravia.
His latest purchase, known locally as Chesil Cliff House, boasts a four-storey panoramic tower, five bedrooms, a 60ft infinity pool, a cinema, and a private beach cove, a helipad and private guesthouse, all situated within three acres of grounds.
It first hit the market for £10m in February 2022 with celebrities including One Direction star Harry Styles rumoured to have viewed it.
The dramatic five-bed house is undergoing renovations ready for its new owner to move in – despite it never having been occupied.
Builders have been working on the house for the last eight-weeks, ripping out fixtures and fittings and replacing them.
Mr Short declined to speak to the Daily Mail about the new owner.
But the works have sparked a wave of rumours in the nearby seaside village of Croyde
One villager said: ‘There’s lots of talk that it’s been sold for half the price he was asking.
‘Every time I’ve driven past recently there’s been a lot of construction going on.
‘There’s loads of rumours about who is going to buy it, the latest I heard was some foreign businessman.
‘We were told months ago, maybe back in March, that it had been sold but until I see somebody stood outside holding the keys I won’t be convinced.
Edward Short on Grand Designs with his wife Hazel at Chesil Cliff House in Devon
The art deco lighthouse took 12 years to build, and cost Edward and Hazel their marriage, but the owner said he still thinks it was worth it
Chesil Cliff House, boasts a four-storey panoramic tower (pictured), five bedrooms, a 60ft infinity pool, a cinema, and a private beach cove, a helipad and private guesthouse
The house is waiting to find a new owner, with Ed hoping he will repay the debts he took on in order to build his North Devon project (pictured: the lounge)
Kevin McCloud and Edward Short appear on an episode of Grand Designs described as one of the series’ ‘saddest ever’
‘Whoever buys it I’d be surprised if it was anybody local though.’
Chesil Cliff House first appeared on Grand Designs in 2010 and has been the subject of numerous follow-up episodes, where Mr Short detailed how the recession and building issues cost him millions of pounds and his marriage.
The decade-long transformation was only meant to take 18 months and cost £1.8million but went wildly over budget, leaving him on the edge of bankruptcy and unable to attract a buyer.
Last week, after what felt like a ‘cursed’ project that ended up costing him his 20-year marriage to his wife Hazel and drowning in a pool of £7million debt, it was revealed that the property had finally sold for £4.35million – appearing to finally draw the saga to a close once and for all.
In 2022, the property was finally finished and listed for sale – with Mr Short saying his family were ‘proud’ of what he’d managed to achieve.
A deal was almost done on the property in August 2023, but a mystery buyer pulled out at the last minute and it was put back on the market.
It then faced a further raft of issues when cracks began appearing in its driveway, which saw the asking price slashed to £5.25million – a near 50 per cent climbdown on what he first had asked for.
Mr Short said the ‘slight problem’ came after celebrity buyers such as Harry Styles were toying with the idea of purchasing the property – claims that were later denied.
And his concern over selling the property appeared to dissipate entirely after he found love in the form of a new fiancée.
‘The lenders have been very good with giving me time to sell it,’ he said at the time.
‘It’s always going to be a bit of a financial fiasco to me, but that’s not the biggest problem in the world.’
Edward and his former wife Hazel are unlikely to see a penny of the sale price themselves as the mansion was in the hands of the receivers when it sold.
Speaking to The Sun, he shared that he has now split from his new partner, Jalia Nambasa – a nurse with whom he’d found love following his split from wife Hazel – as fate appeared to repeat itself.
Edward Short has experienced yet another heartbreak after finally selling the ‘saddest ever’ Grand Designs home, as he’s split from girlfriend Jalia Nambasa (pictured together in 2022)
Chesil Cliff House is seen here in more troubled times in 2019, when Mr Short was struggling to finish the property
The unfinished luxury lighthouse-inspired home is pictured in 2019, years after it was granted planning permission
The couple had even been planning to tie the knot but, despite the strong bond that came from experiencing the housing saga together, decided to go their separate ways in June.
Edward told the newspaper: ‘I was very sad about that, although we are still friends.
‘It was a difficult period because she was with me when the house went from not selling to bringing me to the verge of bankruptcy and I was also going through a career change. It wasn’t easy for her to live through that.’
It’s not the only major change in Edward’s personal life, as he revealed he’s moved to Bath since the sale of the house and has retrained as a prison officer – after making his millions as a music producer.
And he now says he’s managed to finally ‘move on’ from the whole ordeal, adding: ‘I’ve had time to get used to it and I’ve moved on. I’m relieved it’s all over without a doubt. But there were lots of highs and lows in there, there were some amazing moments.’